Ex-Goldman Traders Get Investcorp Seed for Hedge Fund

Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Two former Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
senior traders are starting a hedge fund with at least $50
million in initial capital from Investcorp, a firm that seeds
alternative-investment firms.

Rishi Chadda and Cyrus Pouraghabagher will start New York-based Kingsguard Advisors LP on Nov. 1, which will employ a
global macro fixed-income strategy, according to an Investcorp
statement that was obtained by Bloomberg News. In addition to
the allocation, Investcorp will also provide Kingsguard with
risk, marketing and operational services, according to the
statement.

Kingsguard is the first global macro fixed-income strategy
among the funds to which Investcorp has given initial capital,
Deepak Gurnani, the firm’s head of hedge funds and chief
investment officer, said in a telephone interview. Investcorp
has investments in six hedge funds, collectively holding $1.8
billion, through its seeding program. Kingsguard will try to
profit from bets on interest rates, volatility, credit markets
and mortgages.

Changes to global regulations and moves by central banks
worldwide are among factors that are contributing to price
swings and market volatility, Chadda said in a telephone
interview.

“These changes create exciting investment opportunities,”
he said.

Investcorp’s Investments

Investcorp, based in Bahrain, has $11.5 billion in assets.
Its three businesses include corporate investment in the U.S.,
Europe and the Gulf Cooperation Council; real estate investment
in the U.S.; and global hedge funds. It is publicly traded on
the Bahrain Bourse, runs its hedge fund operations out of New
York and also has a London office.

Chadda and Pouraghabagher, both 37, who started their
careers as analysts in the mortgage department of Goldman Sachs
in the summer of 1997, rose to senior trading roles at the firm.
Chadda became a managing director and worked in Goldman Sachs’s
interest-rate products group, and Pouraghabagher became a vice
president on the firm’s mortgages desk, which included
derivatives and residential mortgage securities that lack
government backing.